Rings of Truth
by MissKate
Summary: *Chapter 4 FINALLY revealed * With Jarod's guidance and a new friend, Miss Parker confronts the truth...
1. Chapter 1

**Rings of Truth**  
_A "Pretender" Fan Fiction  
By MissKate_  
  
**A/N**...This is a sort of introduction to the plot. Longer chapters and more developed scenes will be in chapters to follow! Please review!  
  
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**Chapter 1:**  
  
Miss Parker looked blankly at the folder on her desk. She could tell it was property of The Centre, but what was it? At the top it said "Parker," plain and simple, but nothing more. Inside, various pictures of one young girl through different stages of her life where placed, but there was nothing that could give her a clue as to who she was.  
  
"_Surveillance photos,_" she said to herself, shifting through the assorted images. Her hands fumbled with the shots of the girl sitting in school, playing in the park, watching TV, eating dinner, and even sleeping. Bewildered, she looked closely at the timestamps in the corner of each photo, dating from the 1980's to just the previous week. "_What the hell is going on here?_"  
  
Her phone rang, breaking her free from her thoughts as she quickly grabbed for it.  
  
"What?" she asked in her usual impatient tone.  
  
"You never quite learned phone manners did you, Miss Parker?" the man questioned teasingly.  
  
"Well, you know me," she replied, sinking back into her chair.  
  
"I do," he began. "And what is one thing you've always wanted?"  
  
Miss Parker rolled her eyes. "Where is this going, Jarod?"  
  
"Truth, Miss Parker. You've always wanted truth."  
  
The line went dead with Jarod's voice continuing to ring in her ears. Uneasy about trying to solve his latest riddle, Miss Parker let her head fall back onto the headrest with her eyes closed. Something about this message just hit her a little too closely.  
  
"Miss Parker!" Broots yelled as he suddenly burst into the room. He was always making impromptu visits, eager to tell of new discoveries he had as he uncovered about Jarod's whereabouts. "Something wrong?" he asked as he saw the expression on his friend's face.  
  
Looking up with blank eyes, her cold exterior answered for her. "No. Now what do you want?"  
  
"Your father's gone again," he announced.  
  
"Great," she said to herself. Before allowing herself to become overly concerned, Miss Parker remembered the unknown folder. "Broots, come over here." The balding man walked forward and stopped at her desk with an inquisitive look on his face. "Take this folder and find out everything you can about it."  
  
With that, he left, leaving the strong woman behind to think about her father's disappearance and the short conversation she had had with the man she was told was her enemy, her prey.  
  
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_I hope you liked it even though there isn't much there yet. Please review while I work on the next chapter!_  
  
***misskate***


	2. Chapter 2

**Rings of Truth**  
_A "Pretender" Fan Fiction  
By MissKate_  


**Chapter 2:**  
  
Hours ticked by as Broots sat in front of his computer flipping between files in an endless search. There was not a trace of the girl for whom he was searching with so little information and he could not see himself getting any closer to finding her identity.  
  
Only minutes before he was about to give up, Broots received an e-mail. With curiosity ruling his mind, he clicked on the message only to find it's contents empty. The only word he could detect was in the subject head: RUHTT.  
  
"Ruhtt?" he asked himself.  
  
Desperate for any answers, he tried to trace the e-mail to its origin. Moments later, his answer was clear. It was from a library in Lewes, Delaware, located near The Centre. "Jarod."  
  
Broots knew that Jarod was always trying to help Miss Parker, as much as she hated to admit it. He hated seeing her hurting and continually did what he could to ease her pain. Knowing this, he typed "RUHTT" into the search on his computer, hoping that it was a clue to something he was trying to have him help Miss Parker with. Why else would he have sent the e-mail?  
  
Within seconds, more than ten matches had been found, all with the case name RUHTT. "Jarod's done it again," he sighed, clicking on the first file, his eyes widening as he read its contents.  
  
***  
  
Miss Parker sat at her desk, frustrated, guiding her hand through her hair. She hated her father for always doing this to her, leaving without any explanation, with only a simple e-mail telling her that he is alive and not to tell anyone anything. There was something odd about this disappearance however. She could feel a sickness in her stomach that something awful was in the works and she could not feel anything but helplessness.  
  
A knock came at the door causing her to look up. "Come in," she said annoyed.  
  
"Miss Parker?"  
  
"Broots! Thank God. Did you find anything?" she asked, noticing more papers in his hand in addition to the mysterious folder.  
  
"Yeah, you could say that." He tone was reserved and his expression was not one of pleasure, but he knew that Miss Parker had a right to the truth.  
  
"So?"  
  
"Uh, you might want to sit down for this…" he began.  
  
Miss Parker rolled her eyes. "What do you think I'm doing? Brain surgery?"  
  
"Right, well…this is pretty big."  
  
"Just get over here, Broots." She was not in the mood to be messed around with and, although she could tell that Broots was trying to save her from some kind of hurt, she wanted to know what he was hiding. She knew she was strong and that if she ever felt vulnerable, her eyes could shield her pain from anyone, except Sydney and Jarod.  
  
Broots set the folder in front of Miss Parker and opened it up, placing the pictures in chronological order. Then, he gave her the stack of papers that were printouts of the files he had uncovered.  
  
"Sixteen years ago, your father was sort of distant from the Centre," he began. Do you remember that?"   
  
"No, I was away in Europe. What about it?"  
  
He sighed, knowing that his news would be hard for her to hear. "Well, for about ten months, he was kind of seeing a woman that he tried to hide from the Centre, but we both know how hard that is to do. He would leave for large periods of time without any notice specifically to see her. One day, the Centre had him followed to see what he was up to, and when they found out, they tried to kill her."  
  
"Because they thought that he would tell her their secrets…"  
  
"That's part of it." Broots continued. "One month previous to their attempt to murder her, she had given birth to a baby girl."  
  
Miss Parker looked up from the pictures she had been staring at and glanced at Broots, horrified. "My sister? I have a sister?"  
  
He nodded before going on. "After they tried to kill the woman, your father sent her away with the baby to escape them, knowing that they wouldn't try much else if she was out of the vicinity, and he was right. But ever since, they have been monitoring the girl, knowing that she has the Parker blood and is therefore property of the Centre."  
  
"Those monsters," Miss Parker said quietly as she picked up the papers Broots had handed to here. She gently closed her eyes as her mind flashed back through endless conversations and DSA's. This was just another cover-up made by the Centre, and one too many. Opening her eyes, she looked down at the papers in her hands for the first time. After scanning over them, she quickly pointed to a word on one of the sheets. "What's this? 'RUHTT?'"  
  
"The case name, I guess."  
  
"Don't be an imbecile, Broots, I know that. But look. Rearrange the letters and it says 'TRUTH.'"  
  
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_I'm working on the next chapter right now!! Please review in the meantime!!_  
  
***misskate***


	3. Chapter 3

**Rings of Truth**  
_A "Pretender" Fan Fiction  
By MissKate_  


**Chapter 3:**  
  
Miss Parker jumped into her car, desperate to get away everything. From the place that had always caused her so much pain, from the memory of her father that did the same. The lies and conspiracies were becoming too much and now nothing could make them escape her mind. In the seat next to her rested the folder decorated with pictures of her sister, reminding her that she could not do anything drastic. Somehow, Miss Parker sensed that she was out there, needing her, and she was not about to do anything to jeopardize that.  
  
After hastily pulling into the driveway, Miss Parker gathered her few things from the car and walked inside, ready to pour herself a cold drink and let her problems slip away. She stepped through the front door and carefully put the folder down on the coffee table. Staring at it for only a moment, she hurriedly walked away to her bedroom to take a shower, anxious to wash the Centre and its secrets from her body.  
  
When she reemerged, she seemed more at ease as if the shower had actually done its purpose, but once she saw the folder again, her thoughts came rushing back. She walked over to the couch, picking up the file in the process, and began to finger its contents. "How could he have hid this from me?" she asked herself, just as the telephone rang.  
  
"What?" Her tone was hard and uneasy, much like its usual quality.  
  
"Really, Miss Parker. This bitterness thing is not flattering for you," the other voice said.  
  
"What am I supposed to do, Jarod?" she said settinging the folder on her lap as she leaned back and let her head fall back upon the soft pillow.  
  
"You tell me."  
  
With heavy thoughts and longing in her voice, Miss Parker continued. "Something in me is saying to help her, but I don't know how to listen.  
  
"I know."  
  
Miss Parker sighed. "Of course you do. You always know. You always know everything, don't you, Jarod?"  
  
"You could say that."  
  
"So is this what you meant about truth?" she asked, her eyes focused on the ceiling.  
  
"It's part of it." Jarod's voice changed with his next comment, and the woman could tell that he was up to something still. "So I understand your father is missing now."  
  
Sitting up quickly, Miss Parker listened intently to her old friend. "What do you know? Tell me, dammit."  
  
"You know that I'm not one to tell secrets," Jarod said before ending the conversation with a click that sent Miss Parker wanting to wring his neck.  
  
Angry and frustrated, she rose from the couch and walked into her alcohol-stocked kitchen. Grabbing a glass, she quickly poured an amber liquid, drinking it in haste, before refilling it and ambling away. She pressed her hand to her head as the fluid wrapped her mind and eased her heart's pain.   
  
Miss Parker knew that she could not hate Jarod for leaving her in such mystery. He had helped her so much already throughout her life and she knew that she could count on him to show her the way when the time was right. He always came through when she needed it most and, somehow, she knew that he would this time too.  
  
Secrets…Secrets and lies had dominated her entire life to the point where she no longer knew who she could trust. Jarod resulted in always being the only one who was ever honest with her, holding back when it was necessary. He was there at the sound of the shots that sent her life into a tailspin, and even when she began to search for the truth. As kids, he broke the rules to comfort her, and as adults, he risked his life to do the same. There had never been anyone in Miss Parker's life that would do so much for her with so little in return and without much thought to his own well-being.  
  
Walking back over to the couch where her conversation with Jarod had taken place, Miss Parker sat down, her eyes focused on the folder that beckoned her touch. Carefully, she picked it up and stared at the words on its surface. Her eyes closed, wondering how it would be to have someone following her every move, and then remembered that she did not have to. The Centre did follow her and she was sure of it. It haunted her, whether physically or mentally, and she knew that until its demise, she would never be able to feel privacy again.  
  
The doorbell rang and she set her glass and the folder down on the coffee table to answer it, though her mind remained preoccupied. Casually, her hand twisted the chilled doorknob and pulled the wooden barrier towards her, revealing the being on the other side. Her shock overwhelmed her, and even once her mind had reconnected with her sight, she continued to stand with her wide, dazed eyes to the visitor while theirs rested on her.  
  
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_Chapter 4 is almost done!! Please review while you wait!_  
  
***misskate***


	4. Chapter 4

**Rings of Truth**  
_A "Pretender" Fan Fiction  
By MissKate_  
  
A/N...For those that haven't read it already, I revised Chapter 3 to include more detail and such. If you are starting from this chapter, I advise that you back-track a bit and read what I added. Otherwise, continue... 

One more notice: Asterisks indicate the beginning and conclusion of a flashback.  


**Chapter 4:**  
  
"Are you Miss Parker?" the girl asked quietly, her wavy light brown hair falling gently over her shoulders against a purple sweater. She looked no more the sixteen, but by the way her face and body looked stung by the cold, to Miss Parker, she appeared much younger.  
  
"Uh…yes, I am." Shock still enveloped her body and it was hard for her to stray from it. There was nothing that could have prepared her for this moment, not even any subtle notion from Jarod.  
  
The girl smiled in apparent relief. "I'm Olivia."  
  
"Olivia Parker," Miss Parker said to no one in particular, just wanting to say her name.  
  
"Yeah! That's right. So you who I am? You know why I'm here?" Her questions leapt out of her in one breath with no slowing down in between. By the tone in her voice, she seemed desperate for someone to connect with both her and her emotions. Her eyes made Miss Parker's heart sink as she noticed how this girl at her door had been yearning for so long, lost in her own soul.  
  
"I know who you are," Miss Parker said nodding before she continued. "Why don't you come inside? You look frozen." She held out her hand to the girl who quickly took it and stepped forward into the inviting house. As she did, Miss Parker wrapped her arm around the girl's icy body and tucked her into her own as her own spirit continued to cry inside.  
  
As the two walked in, Olivia let her eyes wander wildly around the home. She felt Miss Parker's release and saw her walk over to a closet where she soon withdrew a warm blanket. For some reason that she could not explain, Olivia felt safe within the walls of Miss Parker's home and in the comfort of her embrace. Even with only a few words exchanged between the two, she knew that she had been right searching for her.  
  
"Here you go," Miss Parker said as she pulled the blanket around the girl. "Why don't you go sit down over there on the couch while I make you something warm to drink. Then we can talk."  
  
Nodding, Olivia smiled as she sat on the soft couch, allowing the gentleness of both it and the blanket to enwrap her body. She looked up and saw a small picture frame on the mantle.  
  
"Is that you and your mother?" she asked.  
  
Miss Parker looked over from the kitchen and glanced at the picture she was referring to. "Yes," she replied, images of Raines murdering the woman suddenly passing through her mind. "She…uh…left…when I was young." For some reason, the hurt of Catherine Parker's death that continued to haunt her forbade the truth from coming out to the innocent girl. Still, Miss Parker's face turned icy as the warmth it had recently possessed quickly diminished. Over time, she had become much more talented in hiding her pain, but this moment pulled a little too hard at her heartstrings. As much as she yearned to let her emotions flow, she closed her eyes, trying desperately to fight back the burning tears.  
  
Seeing Miss Parker's sudden change of emotions, Olivia said, "I'm sorry. I know how you feel though. My mother was…killed four days ago." Unlike her sister, Olivia let her feeling show as she allowed a sing tear fall. Gently, she pulled her knees up closer to her chest and let the blanket over her absorb the despair of her heart.  
  
Miss Parker looked at the girl who seemed so small in comparison to everything around her. Her eyes gave her a sense of innocence that Miss Parker knew she had lost long before her teenage years and wished she could have maintained had the Centre's shadow not been cast over her. Before she knew it, she had forgotten her thoughts and had moved closer to Olivia, wrapping her arm over her shoulders and holding her close.  
  
The girl looked up to Miss Parker with her sad eyes and smiled. "He said you would understand. He said I could trust you."  
  
"Who said that?" Miss Parker's eyes lit up at Olivia's comment in wonder. There was only one person she knew of that would go through any trouble to bring the two together, and the thought of him doing this almost made her hidden emotion visible.  
  
"Jarod."  
  
The word, the name actually, was simple but it held so much meaning within Miss Parker's heart. This act of his truly reached her core and though she searched, she could not find the words to say. He had really done it this time. Once again, he had found her weakness, and went on fulfilling her dreams. Somehow he always knew exactly what her soul searched for, except in this case, he had given her the dream in the first place. She had no prior knowledge of this girl sitting beside her, but with Jarod's latest deed, Miss Parker realized that she was all that mattered anymore.  
  
"Are you too really friends?" Olivia's question startled Miss Parker and shook her out of her thoughts. Of course she knew him, but he knew her better than even herself.  
  
"Umm…Yeah, I do. We're…old friends."  
  
Olivia smiled. "I felt that I could trust him. I've never felt I could trust anyone as much as I did when I say him."  
  
Miss Parker thought back on all the times she had been scared to trust him, but she always did anyway. Her mother had trusted him with her deepest secrets and she always knew that his spirit was rooted in goodness. "Yes. Jarod has a very genuine heart."  
  
"Was I right in coming here?" The question made Miss Parker look down at the girl's desperate eyes once more. "Jarod said…that you could help me. That you would save me."  
  
"_That's just like Angel Boy,_" Miss Parker said to herself. "_Always doing everything he can to help some poor soul find refuge._" He had never changed. From the days of their childhood to now, as he continues running and dodging from the Centre, his dreams of helping the lost lived on.  
  
"Of course you were. Always…always listen to Jarod. Whatever he says to do, no matter how…awkward…it sounds, do it, okay?"  
  
Smiling, the girl nodded, her eyes revealing relief as she did so.  
  
As much as she wanted to just sit there, Miss Parker knew that she had to know what was going on. She could not help Olivia if she did not know how she needed to be saved. "How did you meet Jarod?" she asked, trying to ease into the subject at hand.  
  
"He was the first person to get to my house after I found her…my mother…on the floor." There was uneasiness in her voice, but she continued. "He said that he heard gunshots as he was passing through and then showed me his FBI badge."  
  
Miss Parker smiled on the inside, knowing that Jarod always had some trick up his sleeve.  
  
Briefly pausing, Olivia closed her eyes as if trying to reconnect with the image before she went on. "He knelt down and did everything he could for her, and then let me cry when he said there was nothing left to do. Then…more officers came and they carried her away, but Jarod stayed with me. He asked if I wanted any ice cream and got some out of the freezer for the two of us. He sat beside me on the couch and said that I had to leave so that they wouldn't come after me as well. When I asked who 'they' were, he said that it didn't matter and that I just had to leave. I trusted him and I didn't know why. He was taking me away from everything I had ever known and for no apparent reason. But still, after taking a few things from my room, I took his hand and he led me away, telling me that I would soon find the truth."  
  
Miss Parker knew that she wasn't going to have to push her sister to find out how she arrived at her doorstep. It seemed as if this story had been boiling inside of her just waiting for something to make it spill out. Miss Parker realized that all she had to do was listen with no questions asked.  
  
"We went to his apartment for a few days and he let me sleep on his couch, but I could still hear him typing endlessly on his laptop. I remember…feeling safe. I don't know if it was the room or Jarod, but I remember believing that nothing could get me as long as I stayed there. This morning, when I woke up, he was talking on the phone. The only thing I heard him say was 'Miss Parker' because as soon as he saw that I had woken up, he hung up and knelt beside me. I asked him whom he was talking to, but all he told me was that you were his friend and that you would keep me safe. I didn't want to go even though he promised that you would protect me as much as he could. I just wanted to stay where I was, where I felt secure, but he told me that his job was taking him back to Seattle and that he couldn't take me along. We got into his car and drove for a long time. He didn't stop driving until I noticed that we were in the middle of nowhere. I was confused and scared, but Jarod told me that I was almost there."  
  
In amazement at both the story and the fact that Jarod had been so close, Miss Parker's eyes grew wider, trying to soak every detail in. Still, she could not believe that she had missed her prey yet again. So often had he been within arm's reach when she had not known it and here it was happening yet again.  
  
Failing to see Miss Parker's thoughts, Olivia let her story continue, the words simply falling out of her mouth. "He said that you would help me and that all I had to do was walk until I saw a house on a hill. I didn't know why I had to go by myself, but I didn't want to ask any questions that would make him change his mind about helping me. I just assumed that he was trying to protect me by not drawing attention to the house. When I opened the car door to step out, he grabbed my hand, telling me to wait."  
  
Olivia's story paused as she remembered the next part. "He reached into his pocket and placed something in my palm. I didn't look at it, but as I slid it into my own pocket, I felt its shape. He said it was for you."  
  
Miss Parker did not have time to think this over. Before she knew it, the girl has slipped the gift into her hand, leaving Miss Parker's thoughts wild in her mind. She raised it to eyelevel, wondering why Jarod had given it to her, until it hit her. It was the ring she had snuck into Jarod's pocket one day when they she was sneaking around the various sub-levels. She remembered the day clearly and played it back in her mind.  
  
***  
  
She saw Jarod in the corner by the wall as she was passing by his door and saw the pain, the longing, in his face. Cautiously making sure that no one was around, she knocked lightly on Jarod's door. She remembered seeing the face of her distant friend light up when he spotted her and how he seemed hesitant to make contact with her. They both knew that cameras were everywhere, but somehow this fascinated them both. Only one corner of his room was out of the cameras' sight so, after vigilantly opening the door for Miss Parker, he snuck over to it, followed by his visitor, the blue-eyed girl.  
  
"How are you?" she whispered her eyes focused on the young boy.  
  
"Better now," he said softly. "What are you doing down here? Your father will be angry."  
  
Miss Parker smiled. "He won't know. Nobody…will know."  
  
Needing to trust her, Jarod gave in. "Why did you come?"  
  
"I…was just passing through. And I thought that maybe you could use a friend."  
  
"I wish it didn't have to be like this," Jarod whispered as Miss Parker nodded in reply. "I wish I…we…could live without all of this secrecy."  
  
"But it makes it kind of fun, doesn't it?" She wanted Jarod to smile again. She liked to see him smile. "Can you imagine a life without the Centre?"  
  
Jarod shook his head. "No, but I would like to."  
  
Both children turned their heads as they heard a click at the other end of the hall. It was a quiet sound, but all too loud in their ears. Without a word, Miss Parker rose, followed by Jarod, knowing that their time together had been cut short. Opening the door only wide enough to check for any presence on the opposite side, the girl began to make her exit. As she left however, Miss Parker took a ring off of her finger and dropped it into Jarod's pocket, disappearing before he could react.  
  
***  
  
Miss Parker clasped the ring in her hand as the memory concluded. "I can't believe he kept this," she whispered. "I…found it in my father's office when I was just a child and took it without him noticing. I don't know why I gave it to Jarod, it just seemed right at the time."  
  
Olivia smiled. "Maybe he's trying to tell you something."  
  
"What else is new…"  
  
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_Finally! I finished Chapter 4!! Hopefully the next installment will come sooner as I am on vacation from school right now._  
  
***misskate***


End file.
